The Lost and the Found - Michael Morbius

The Cure

The mess of coffee now spilled all over the floor contrasted sharply with the stark white of the rest of the lab. But the mess didn't concern her, not right now. 

At first, she wasn't sure what she had seen - what she was seeing. What was right in front of her in Michael's office. 

Something had been hanging upside down from the ceiling pipes - no, not something, someone.

The figure dropped from the ceiling - startling her even further - and landed swiftly on their feet before her, standing tall and proud.

"Michael?" she cried, not believing what she was seeing.

It wasn't just because he had been moments before hanging upside down  from the ceiling, but because he looked different. His skin, which was exposed due to his lack of a shirt, had a healthy glow and he looked strong and fit and in perfect health. 

"Michael," she breathed again in shock.

"Selina-" He appeared startled to see her - almost as startled as she was to see him, which made no sense.  "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" she repeated.  "What are you doing here? You're back. How long have you been back? Why didn't you say anything?" When he didn't respond, she continued to press with all her questions.  "What the hell happened? I was so worried. The police are looking forward you - and not just that, but Martine's in the hospital, and it was like you just disappeared... What happened to you?"  He look the healthiest she had ever seen him. "You found the cure? It worked?"

"Sort of..." He pulled on a hoodie that had been discarded on the lab bench. 

Her worry instantly faded away, and she was filled with warmth and relief flooded her.  "You did it! You found it! Oh - now we can tell Lucien-"

"No!" he cried, suddenly cutting her off. 

"What?"

"No. We can't."

"Why not? I mean look at you - it worked. Your life's work-"

"NO!" This time it was a roar, one that nearly shook the entire lab. She jumped and then froze. It was so fierce and nothing like gentle Michael.  "I-I'm sorry," he stammered. "I've been back a few days-"

"A few days?" she repeated, shocked and hurt that he had kept quiet about it, kept hidden.

"Yes, and the reason I didn't tell you was because I didn't want you to see me like this."

"What do you mean? It worked. You looked the healthiest I've ever seen you. You were just dangling from the freaking ceiling!" So why wasn't he sharing in her excitement. "What do you mean you  didn't want me to see you like this?"

"You're right, I did find the cure, and it's wonderful, more amazing than I ever could have imagined-" There it was, a faint glimmer of excitement in his eyes, but it was quickly clouded over by intense seriousness again.  "But there's more to it - unexpected side affects. It all comes with a cost."

"Like what?" she pressed, more gently this time, not wanting him to snap uncharacteristically again. 

"Horrible things."

"What happened that night on the ship?" she asked, still pressing.  "Michael - "

"I want to help, so badly, you know I do.  But I can't, not like this, not with this-"

"But we can still help-"

"No!" he barked, more gently this time, but still forcefully. "No, no we can't. This isn't just a cure, it's a curse."

"How so?"

"You don't want to know."

"No Michael, I really do. Tell me what's going on. What the hell happened?"

And so he recounted to her what had  happened - well, all that he remembered, which turned out not to be much unfortunately. Or maybe that was for the better, for the best. 

"I can't let this happen to him too," he said, speaking of Lucien. "Nor to anyone else.

She nodded slowly.  "Can you reverse it?"

"No. I - I don't know, I hope so. But I-" He sighed heavily.  "It took this long to find this cure, and I don't know if we even have that long to find a way to reverse it-" His face suddenly changed, there one second and gone the next. Then he was bent over, groaning and growling, and making his way to the storeroom where he kept his manufactured blood samples. He tore the door open, grabbing one of the blood bags hanging from the rack and tore it open as well, holding it up to his mouth and downing it all in one long, messy gulp.  

The next thing Selina knew she was  bent over the nearest garbage can, vomiting her guts into it. Did he just do what she thought he had done? 

"Selina-" He as at her side - how could he have made it to her so quickly?  - gently touching her shoulder. She jumped a little and staggered back, shocked and startled all at once.  "Selina I'm so sorry-"

"What the hell did you just do-" she gagged.  "Why - blood?" Even the word sent a disgusted shudder through her. 

"It's a hunger I have now," he explained.  "So far it's just the manufactured kind, that keeps me satisfied and fed for long enough."

She didn't need him to elaborate - she didn't want him to. "You're like - you're like a vampire," she stuttered.

"I'm a monster. See, that's why we can't use it as a cure. This is why." Suddenly, his head snapped to the side as though he sensed something.  "The police are here-"

"What - how can you tell?" She was so overwhelmed and confused, and had just puked up her guts. Could this get any weirder? 

"I can sense them."

Yes, apparently it could, much, much weirder. "Sense them?"

"Yes, they're heading this way - go, please, go. I promise I'll meet up with you later but right now I don't want you getting any more caught up in all this than you already are, this mess."

But that was just it: she didn't feel 'all caught up in it'. Not at all. In fact, she still felt pretty in the dark about it all. Yes he had given her some answers, but there were still a lot of holes in his story. 

"Okay,  but you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do."

"I know."

She turned to leave. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I don't know."

(Sorry to keep you in suspense for so long! Ugh, that took me so much longer than I'd hoped! Sorry for the wait, thanks for being so patient as always!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))